Vodacom Group switched on its commercial LTE network in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The LTE service will initially be accessible via approximately 70 base stations in Johannesburg. Vodacom said its network transformation project aims to have 500 sites enabled for LTE by the end of the year as the rollout expands to other cities. Vodacom has some 9,000 base stations in its network. Ninety percent of 3G base stations are 21.6 Mbps enabled, and almost 80% are 43.2 Mbps enabled. Vodacom will begin selling its first LTE devices from its shops later this month.
“Vodacom was the first network in SA to test LTE more than two years ago, and since then we’ve been busy upgrading base stations and our fibre-optic transmission network in preparation for today. It’s great to claim another South African first for Vodacom with the launch of LTE services to the public, and it’s even more pleasing that we’ve done this ahead of many other advanced economies around the world. South Africa has joined an exclusive club with the fastest connectivity the world has to offer,” stated Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub.
